BEST OF A DECADE

 

The soundtrack of the sixties
Was by Lennon and McCartney
But it was little Georgie Best
Who did the choreography

GEORGE GIPP "THE GIPPER" - (February 18, 1895 – December 14, 1920)

 

George Gipp Grew up in Laurium, Michigan and was a natural athlete. He was an avid sportsman on the track, as well as hockey, sandlot football, and organized baseball however prior to his arrival at Notre Dame College he had never played high school football.

Notre Dame Football was part of the most successful and widely followed college athletic program in history and no other athlete epitomized more the sporting ethos than George Gipp.

George Gipp was never bested in the school's glorious history.

Gipp's college football career lasted for four years in which the Gipper scored 21 touchdowns in Notre Dame's amazing run of 27 wins, 2 losses, and 3 ties while defensively no one completed a single pass against his protective zone.

Then on November 20, 1920, during a game against Illinois, George Gipp contracted a serious infection of the throat which in his final game at Northwestern took a turn for the worst.

Knute Rockne Notre Dame coach visited Gipp in the hospital and on his death bed George told Rockne that whenever the boys were behind he said, "just tell them to "win one for the Gipper."”

George Gipp died on December 14, 1920 from pneumonia and streptococcal infection.

The George Gipp Award was first given at his high school, Calumet High School, in 1934 and is awarded to the most outstanding senior athlete.

Notre Dame Coach Knute Rockne said of his protégé

"I felt the thrill that comes to every coach when he knows it is his fate and his responsibility to handle unusual greatness...the perfect performer who comes rarely more than once in a generation."
The captain of the 1920 Notre Dame football team Frank Coughlin said "George Gipp was the greatest athlete I have ever known. He will be forever remembered as a friend, a student, an athlete and a gentleman, for to know him was to love him."

While Grantland Rice eminent sports writer of the day said of him.

"His kicking and ball carrying was about as fine as anything I have ever seen on a football field."

Gipp was inducted into the Michigan Football Hall of Fame, the National Football Hall of Fame and the Upper Peninsula Hall of Fame.

George Gipp was also Notre Dame's first member of the All-American team.

TIMES UP

To my chest my

Hands I clasp

I deeply breathe

I wheeze and gasp

My temples throb

My mouth is dry

My heart beats fast

I’m going to die

My voice has gone

My throat is sore

My hands both shake

I can take no more

I lay my head

Upon my knee

Now blow the whistle

Referee

WINGLESS WONDERS

Wingless wonders they were named

As world cup winners they are famed

Gordon Banks, played in the goal

For Bobby Moore, the captain’s role

Cohen and Wilson at the back

The Charlton brothers, Bob and Jack

Martin Peters and Alan Ball

Nobby Stiles stood ten feet tall

Roger Hunt scores when he can

And Geoff Hurst the hat trick man

Sir Alf Ramsey teamed them up

And in 66 they won the cup

PRIDE IN THE EAST

 

Travelling east to play the game

Not thought to set the world aflame

Making friends while you’re away

Impressing with your football play

Pleasing critics with what they see

Though they call you England B

Well done the noble men in green

With Holland, Dunn and Robbie Keane

You’ve really done your country proud

Let them proudly sing your names aloud

McPELE

 

Brazil Brazil is the Celtic chant

From the clan McCarlos and McCafu

Scotland’s allies in the yellow and blue

Must defeat the Englishmen for you

 

I feel more pity than I feel contempt

Though not enough to shed a tear

What a truly sad existence you endure

No talented team of Scots to cheer

 

How sad and bitter you poor Celts are

Lacking a worthy team home grown

You must bathe in the reflected glory

Of greater nations than your own

A GAME OF ALL FOURS

 

When she suggested

A game of all fours

I thought that meant

Getting into her drawers

But no, I was wrong

Which is a shame

It turns out “all fours”

Is just a card game

ARE YOU WEARING PLUS FOURS?

 

Are you wearing plus fours?

Well, they look just the job

The tweeds with argyle socks

But you do look like a nob

THE TENNIS SWING

 

The dour Scot lost the first two sets

And the outcome looked a pretty safe bet

But the plucky Brit fought back to level

Only for the Scot to return in the final set

A DAY AT THE RACES

 

A skinny brunette with hair in pigtails
A busty blonde with a ponytail
Overweight lasses showing their bellies
Some eccentric sorts wearing green wellies

 

Women in shorts to small for their arse
Some dressed up showing some class
Several who’ve just crawled our of bed
Mutton dressed as lamb – enough said

 

White skinned redheads wearing no bra
Leggy birds show all getting out the car
Baggy combat trousered youngsters
Extremely skimpily dressed funsters

 

Mothers clad in coloured print dresses
Vixens and vamps and painted temptresses
Elderly folk wearing sensible shoes
Lads on the pull hunt in threes or twos

 

Middle aged man-eaters dressed to kill
Bold young stunners dressed to thrill
Schoolgirls dressed up to look thirty
Thirty something’s dressed to look dirty

 

Tuppenny tarts and fifty-pound whores
Bored housewives fed up with the chores
Young professionals and people of note
People used to wearing ermine not stoat

 

Middle aged geezers who ate all the pies
The absent-minded gaze wistfully up at the skies
The hooray henrys suited and booted
The Nuevo riche who’ve snorted and tooted

 

Spinster aunts with cheeks glowing
Half cut bimbos with tattoos showing
Hormones raging with alcohol and heat
Game young women viewed like meat

 

Girls of all ages wearing shorts and vests
Tops that barely cover their chests
Those who dress nicely for the party
Drink too much and still look tarty

 

Short, skirted fillies showing all
Phone to their ear making endless calls
Stumbling about sucking on fags
Half drunk and acting like slag’s

 

From dawn till dusk, they drink all day
Losing money and dignity along the way
Dressed in suits, beachwear or like clowns
A day out at the races on the Epsom downs

BILLY THE KID

The noble art of pugilism
It has often been called
Not all would agree
And some are just appalled
Young fighter Billy Owen
Was barely standing
After being pounded
For three rounds in the ring
It was so noisy you couldn’t
Hear the bell sound
The ring of the bell
To mark the end of the round
The battered and bloody
Boxer sat on his stool
If you’d seen him you’d
Agree the sport is cruel
The corner man took a look
And gave his view
“You’re doing ok kid
He’s not laid a glove on you”
The kid replied
“Then keep an eye on the referee”
“Because someone’s
Beating the crap out of me”